Tomorrow's Ascent
by Spades And Swords
Summary: Drabbles,Two-shot.Abandoned by Simon, Marceline is left alone in a destroyed and devastated world. But facing her father, and above all, her memories, may prove to be more difficult than surviving.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer : All characters belong to Pendleton Ward._

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**_Solitude_**

The first night Marceline spent without any company was also a sleepless night. The salt of her dried tears irritated her cheeks.

She held Hambo close to her heart as she waited for Simon's return.

But he never came back. Neither he, nor anyone else.

It was then that Marceline fully realized she was alone.

_**Dropouts**_

Marceline tried to find a logical explanation. She spent whole days doing nothing else other than wondering what she could have possibly done so wrong that it had caused Simon to leave.

What could be so unforgivable? What?

**_Conclusions_**

Maybe ,Marceline concluded , deep down, Simon was just like her father.

Both had abandoned her for no reason.

She bit her lip until it bled, but she didn't cry. She was tired sick of tears.

_**Friend**_

Maybe she wasn't completely alone. After all, Hambo was still by her side.

_**Provisions**_

Marceline had never before realized the value of food until her supplies ran out. Without Simon, she would have to find supplies on her own.

_**Lack and abundance**_

Canned food was abundant, but not infinite. And to complicate things even more, the radiation was starting to decompose food a lot faster than usual.

Marceline knew she would soon have to find another way to get food.

She missed Simon more than ever.

He would have known what to do.

He always had.

**_Fire_**

Marceline silently gazed at the bonfire every night. The memory of her first attempt to start one, which ended up causing a fire that was only stopped by a timely rain, still made her smile.

Since Simon had left, there weren't many other things that caused the same effect on her anymore.

_**Hunting**_

It took months for Marceline to learn how to hunt, and it took much longer for her to learn how to hunt decently. For her own surpirse, she soon started to enjoy it.

If Simon could see her, he would have been so proud...

**_Conflict_**

Why she couldn't think of Simon without feeling her heart breaking apart in grief? And more important, why did she still care so much about that selfish idiot that had abandoned her?

_**Suvenir**_

Marceline threw Hambo at a considerable distance away from her.

Suddenly, she couldn't bear to see it.

_**Ideas**_

Marceline was going to get rid of Hambo. She had convinced herself that she could never forget Simon completely if that pesky teddy bear was always at her side. And if Simon had abandoned her, then Marceline would abandon him too.

But when she noticed that Hambo had lost one of its eyes, Marceline was unable to throw it into the fire; instead, she hugged Hambo just as she had done so many times in the past ,when she was a little younger.

How she could have ever thought she could get rid of it?

_**Repair**_

The next morning, the first thing Marceline did was going out to the the ruins in search for some thread and buttons. She spent the rest of the morning repairing Hambo.

**_Vigilant_**

From the shadows, Hunson watched how his daughter grew with every passing day. Sometimes, all he wanted was to be with her without the need of being hidden, but Marceline wasn't ready to meet again. Not yet.

And likewise,Hunson wasn't ready to face his daughter.

_**Whispers**_

As much as she tried not to, Marceline always ended up whispering good night to Simon. She wondered if he could hear her, wherever he was. It was a childish idea, but it was also strangely comforting.

And there were times ,when she began to sink into her dreams, where Marceline could hear a faint voice whispering _"Good night, Marceline."_

**_Bother_**

Hunson didn't know why he always bothered with wishing his daughter good night.

_**Changes**_

Marceline wasn't a dependable girl anymore. After a few years of isolation in that destroyed world, she had become quite independent and courageous for her age. It was a real shame to see that the world in which she lived was as putrid as ever.

_**Music**_

As she passed next to an empty music store ,Marceline decided that one day she would build her own bass.

Then, she could play the songs that Simon had taught her with his guitar, in the days when she was just a small child.

And Simon was more than just a memory.

_**Thoughts**_

_"Memories are life. The people we hold dear always live inside our memories, even if they are not longer by our side."_

Marceline didn't want Simon to die, let alone within her memories.

She would keep him alive by remembering him.

**_Tear_**

For the first time in years, Marceline allowed herself to shed a single tear for the sake of her lost friend.

It was just one, and yet, it expressed it all.

_**Weakness**_

Hunson had taken his daughter away from Petrikov for one main reason: to prevent Simon of transforming Marceline into a humanly useless girl. Had he allowed Marceline to continue under the dangerous care of Petrikov, she would have become a dependent and pathetic child. Hunson couldn't just sit back and surrender his daughter to such fate. The Nightosphere would never accept someone that weak as leader.

What Hunson had done, he had only done it for love.

And if that love meant some suffering for Marceline, so be it. His daughter needed to be strong.

Hunson wished he could be as strong as her. Or at the very least, strong at all.

_**Treasure**_

With her hunting prey hanging from her shoulders, Marceline delved into the ruins of a fast food establishment that were surprisingly stable. In one of the tables, she found some fries.

But instead of eating them, she guarded them like a treasure.

She still remembered how much Simon had loved fries...

_**Time**_

He had postponed it long enough. His daughter was now ready to meet him again.

But ... was Hunson ready to face his daughter?

_**Meetings**_

There was someone lurking in the shadows.

Marceline could feel it. It was a mysterious presence. And it was cold, very cold.

Could it be ...

"Simon?"

The stranger emerged from the darkness. Marceline's heart stopped in her chest. For a second, she thought she was dreaming.

"Hello, Marceline."

Father and daughter looked at each other in silence. The surrealism of the situation nullified the existence of words.

For the first time in years, the Abadeers were together again.

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_Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Time**_

It took days for Marceline to get used to the presence of her father.

It took weeks for her to dare seeing Hunson at the eyes.

And it took months for her to tolerate being near him.

**_Yesterday_**

Marceline couldn't believe that in the days before the war, she had loved his father.

Hunson found it hard to believe that in the days before the war, his daughter loved being by his side.

But the hardest thing to believe for both of them was how much they missed those times.

_**Blood**_

Blood meant nothing. Hunson was no longer her father.

_**Indifference**_

Marceline was surprised to discover that feeling nothing at all could be much more painful than feeling a lot.

_**Mistake**_

Indifference was the weakest of resentments. That was something Hunson knew for sure.

It would be his daughter who would show him how wrong he was.

_**Attempts**_

All of Hunson's attempts to explain Marceline the reasons of why he had abandoned her always ended up in failure. All of Marceline's attempts to forgive her father always had the same result.

_**Talk**_

Why was it impossible for Hunson to talk to his daughter without sounding cold and fiercely imperative?

Why was it impossible for Marceline to talk to her father without being rude and hurtfully sarcastic?

_**Smile**_

"Where did you find that old teddy bear?"

Marceline smiled, but it faded away as soon as she remembered with _whom_ she was talking to.

"It was a gift from someone very dear to me. You could say _he_ was like a father to me."

Hunson merely walked away,in silence.

_**Envy**_

Hunson felt a pang of envy everytime he heard how Marceline wished good night to the absent Simon Petrikov, while he remained completely ignored.

_**Dreams**_

All that kept Simon's heart and mind from freezing completely were the vagues memories of a little girl and a young woman. The memories were still there, but they vanished whenever he tried to reach them. As if they were just scattered traces of distant dreams.

_**Princesses**_

"Their names are Betty and Marceline. I ... must...remember them..." But they slowly faded away with each step Simon took towards the mountains that would soon be his new home.

_**Penguin**_

Initially, the penguin was just a nuisance who kept following him.

However, there was something strange about that animal.

It was disturbing. That didn't stop Simon from eventually getting used to its company.

Gunter,he named it.

Though it was possible that it had been the penguin who whispered that name to him.

_**Gunter**_

Wasn't Gunter the name he and Betty had chosen in case their child was born a boy? And who was Betty?

Who was Simon?

"Gunter, please tell me who I am..."

_**Affection**_

A nameless emotion invaded Hunson when he fully convinced himself that his daughter loved the memory of a maniac more than she loved her own father.

It destroyed his patience, and ate away his heart.

_**Discussion**_

"If you ever touch Hambo again, I swear I'll make you pay!"

"Don't talk to me that way, Marceline! Can't you see these senseless bonds and emotions make you weak? Just look at you. You are so caught up in your past that you don't dare to move forward towards your future!"

"You're right. I don't move foward because that's not the future I want. It's the one you've planned for me inside your selfish mind."

**_Fights_**

Hunson never again approached that damn teddy bear, but arguing with Marceline became a routine.

In spite of it all, it was somewhat comforting. His daughter finally spoke to him, even if those words only came in the form of arguments and reproaches.

**_Fries_**

"Why, dad? Why? Why do you always make it so easy for me to hate you?"

_**Abandonment**_

Marceline felt no pain nor shed a tear when she left her father. She ignored Hunson's orders to go back. Instead, Marceline kept walking. And this time, Marceline had no desire to stop. She wished the road was infinite.

_**Fault**_

Hunson's hand still tingled. Maybe he had slapped Marceline harder than he'd thought. But that wasn't his fault, it was Petrikov's.

He had ruined his Marceline.

_**Remoteness**_

Before she noticed, Marceline had already walked into the mountains covered with ice and snow. The weather was so cold that she feared she would freeze to death. That didn't matter.

The cold was more bearable than the idea of returning to her father's side.

_**Shadow**_

She heard some steps behind her back, mildly muffled by the snow.

"Simon? " Marceline instinctively asked,as she looked over her shoulder.

All she felt was a sharp stabbing pain in her stomach, and then ,everything dissapeared.

_**Incomprehension**_

Hunson knew Petrikov was in the area. He could feel the crown's disgusting magical aura dangerously close. What he didn't understand was why Petrikov had tried to kill his Marceline.

He would make that bastard pay for what he had done to his daughter someday.

Taking away his soul, Hunson thought, would only be the begining of his punishment.

_**Blood**_

"Gunter, you're back! Did you find my princesses, Gunter? What is a princess, Gunter? Why are you stained with blood, Gunter?"

_**Transformation**_

Marceline didn't know what she was anymore. She was a demon, she was a vampire, she was a monster... Or maybe ,she was all that and more.

And perhaps, she was nothing at all.

**_Gratefulness_**

Someone or something had been about to kill her, and it was her father who had saved her life.

The daughter was grateful, but the demon inside Marceline was humiliated.

_**Inheritance**_

Marceline wasn't too happy to discover how many personality traits she had inherited from her father. On the other hand, Hunson was delighted.

Maybe ,Marceline was a worthy heiress after all.

_**Similarity**_

Although his relationship with Marceline had improved slightly, Hunson knew it would never be as it had been before. Just like Petrikov was the shadow of someone who was no more, his relationship with his daughter was only a weak and imperfect reflection of the past.

_**Possibility**_

Perhaps she had been wrong. It sounded ridiculous, but ... perhaps her father still loved her. And maybe, she could love him back in return.

_**Monsters**_

"You won't approach those mountains again, Marceline! They are habitated by nothing but monsters!"

"And how are we any different from them?"

**_Madness_**

The crown was right.

Sanity was scary. Why not crave for craziness instead?

It was less painful, and much sweeter.

_**Destiny**_

"Very soon you will fulfill your destiny, Marceline. And you will be happy again, I promise."

"But whose happiness and destiny will be truly fulfilled, father? Mine ... or yours?"

_**Planet**_

The planet began to heal. Slowly but carefully, it rose from its ashes. The Earth had died , and it was being reborn.

Marceline wondered if someone like her, who lived but never died, could heal as well.

She was willing to find out.

_**Legacy**_

"I will stay here. Keep the Nightosphere to yourself and do what you please with it. I don't want it."

"Why do you insist on being so foolish, Marceline? This Earth you so ridiculously love is nothing but an endless cycle of chaos. You've seen it die once, and it will die again countless of times. Give up this charade and come with me! I ... I don't want to lose my daughter again."

"... You already have."

_**Foolishness**_

How could she have been so stupid? How could she have thought her father really loved her?

Hunson was,and would always be, out for himself. Marceline knew that for sure now.

She would never make that same mistake again.

_**Farewell**_

He couldn't leave the Nightosphere. Someone or something had locked him in that dimension for good.

Who was responsible of this?

Petrikov?

...Marceline?

Could it be that Hunson couldn't even trust his own family?!

It was a terrible inconvenience, but he was far from being defeated.

Hunson would meet Marceline again, and then, he would convince his daughter to fulfill her destiny as his heiress once and for all.

_**Freedom**_

Now that her father was gone again, Marceline was free to return to the mountains covered with ice and snow.

She didn't want to go back, but she needed to.

She had to discover if it was really _him_ the one who lurked in the snow...

**_Strangers_**

"Who is that girl, Gunter? Is she my princess? She is coming right at me ... No, don't touch me! Get away from me! Who are you?! Go away! GO AWAY!"

_**Surrender**_

Marceline lost count of her attempts to approach that man with the white beard and the golden crown. She couldn't believe that this man was once her beloved Simon. Her heart broke when she discovered that her patience towards him was running out quickly.

If Simon had not intention of remembering her , why should she had any intention of helping him?

_**Kingdom**_

New civilizations, creatures and kingdoms began to grow. It took years, but for Marceline, time was irrelevant. She wondered how long it would take for this new world to be destroyed, just as her father had predicted.

_**Hambo**_

"That old teddy bear? I sold it to an old witch!"

_**Weak**_

Marceline was really becoming very weak and merciful. She found no other explanation of why she had spared Ash's life.

_**Human**_

It was funny.

Finn reminded Marceline of the naive and noble girl she once was.

Poor stupid human... he would one day discover how the world really was. And he wouldn't like it.

At all.

_**Vampire**_

"You know who am I, Finn? I'm Marceline, the Vampire Queen. If I wanted to, I could kill you in a second."

"Yes, but I know you won't do that."

"Ha! And how are you so sure I won't?"

"Because we're friends."

**_Mistakes_**

Marceline knew that giving that human the chance of being her friend was a big mistake.

But she also knew that continuing to drown in her own grudges and hatreds was a bigger one.

_**Right**_

Was it right for someone like her ...to be happy again?

_**Returns**_

It was a cruel joke from the world to allow her father to return while Simon remained lost and distant.

_**Song**_

_Father,do you even love me?_

_**Doubt**_

_Simon, do you even remember me?_

_**Answer**_

"Of course I love ,Marceline. Don't you ever doubt that."

_**Hug**_

"Of course I love you, old man."

For an instant ,Marceline could feel how Simon was still alive inside the Ice King.

_**Life**_

And suddenly, as the Ice King sang with her, Marceline was a little girl again.

Their memories,their hopes... they weren't dead.

They lived, and Simon did ,too.

Simon had rescued her when she was lost and alone, and now, it was Marceline's turn to save him.

_**End**_

The answer came to her as the song ended.

Yes.

Life was still worth living.

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_Thanks for reading!_


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